A strong second quarter gave the Peacock Toilers enough breathing room to pull off a hard fought, 78-57, win over the Caronport Cougars in the Moose Jaw High School Senior Boys Basketball League on Tuesday night.

“We started slow, we need to start out fast in these bigger games,” said Peacock guard Payton Chow.

“We just had to play defence, we didn’t really play defence until the second half, but our offence was clicking, we had 51 points in the first half.”

The Toilers and Cougars were tied 17-17 at the end of a back-and-forth first quarter, but Peacock heated up in the second quarter, out-scoring Caronport, 35-17, in the frame to take a 51-34 lead at halftime.

Peacock's Shae Zwozdesky goes up for a lay-up against Caronport's Breighdy Banerjee during Tuesday's senior boys basketball game at Peacock. (Photo: Marc Smith)

The Cougars continued to play well, and even with the Toilers, through the second half, but couldn’t overcome that second quarter deficit.

“We’ve got to make shots, that’s it,” said Caronport head coach Shane Sowden. “Everything seemed to work, our defence was pretty solid, but we missed a lot of layups, we make those 2-3 foot baskets and we’re in a ball game, that’s it, so we’ll keep working.”

One area where the Toilers were able to control the game was on the boards as they battled for a lot of offensive rebounds throughout the game, leading to second chance points.

Chow said that’s the identity of this year’s team, “Our posts are playing well and the coaches taught us to crash, get those boards and hustle, and that’s what we’ve been doing,” he said.

Peacock’s Riley Herridge led all scorers with 21 points, while Shae Zwozdesky and Chow chipped in with 15 points each. Jude Shepherd-Hills was Caronport’s top scorer with 16 points, while Kenny Buck and Breighdy Banerjee put up 10 points each.

The win improved Peacock to 3-1 on the year, while Caronport dropped to 0-3 with the loss, but if this game was any indication, the second half of the season could see all five teams in the league having a legitimate shot at the city championship.

“The last two weeks have been really good and it’s nice to be playing competitive games,” said Sowden. “We were missing our point guard pre-Christmas, so having him is a big piece, but the boys have come into these gyms the last few years and haven’t been successful, so just to get that mindset that we can compete with these guys, it’s getting over that hurdle and we’re almost there.”

Caronport returns to the court next Tuesday to host the Central Cyclones, while Peacock is off until Feb. 6 when they host Assiniboia.

In the girls game on Tuesday, the Peacock Toilers cruised to a 76-16 win over the Caronport Cougars.

Piper Ingalls led the Toilers with 22 points in the win, while Katherine McDougall added 15. Melis Ellis was Caronport’s leading scorer with eight in the loss.

The win improves Peacock’s record to a league-best 4-0, while Caronport falls to 1-2.

Also Tuesday, out in Assiniboia, the Central Cyclones won 122-53 over the Assiniboia Rockets in the boys game.

Assiniboia’s Logan Fettes led all scorers with 33 points in a losing cause, while Hardill Khubber paced Central’s attack with 20 points. Ethan Johnson and Jaxson Brownell added 16 each.

Central sits at 4-0 after the win, while Assiniboia falls to 0-3.

The girls game also saw the Cyclones come out on top, beating the Rockets, 57-52.

Alexa Watterson was the game’s top scorer with 21 points in the win for Central and Katie Coulson added ten for the Cyclones. Assiniboia’s Morgan Delorme had 14 points, while Lindsey Hawkins and Alyssa Anderson chipped in with 10 each.

The win pushes Central’s record to 3-1 on the year, while Assiniboia falls to 1-2.